30 year old
Kasia Mos is this year's Croatian entry, namely mid table, middle of the
road, destined for the middern. She probably get to the FInal with "Flashlight"
but the diaspora will only go so far. It can be found here

Michal Szpak
won through the Polish pre-selection show in '16, beating as he did the
most damp-fan popular song of the NF season throughout Europe, and an ESC
runner-up. This doesn't guarantee success though for "Color of your
Life". It's here

Somewhat at
a tangent from last year, 2015 sees wheelchair bound Monika Kuszynska power
ballarding her way through "In the Name of Love". Worthy but dull.
Am I being harsh? Probably, but you can decide here

Oh
yes. We have some Turbo Folk type of thing for the return of Poland. Donatan
& Cleo will be performing with "My Slowianie - We Are Slavic
". Loving the video in particular, hope you will too here

They've
spent all their money getting the English training camp up to scratch, so
the can play their Euro Football championship games in Ukraine. As a result
Poland have pulled out of 2012''s ESC and then again in 2013. Shame.

Magdalena
Tul a strong willed woman will be disco-ing to a likely higher than mid-table
pop track called "Here I am". Here
indeed, she is. And good luck to her too.

Marcin
Mrozinski is singing "Legenda" which has been described as "traditional"
by some, which would be described as "appalling" by me. Find out
more here

The
Tourist Guide says

"As both a nation rich in history and a former
socialist state speedily preparing for EU accession, Poland is a place
where modernity and tradition exist side by side. Hypermarkets rub shoulders
with cathedrals, world-class hotels overlook medieval squares whilst internet
cafes are flanked by centuries old statues"
Poland is a garden of nature and a treasure trove of cultural riches.
It is a democracy located in the heart of Europe, inhabited by a friendly,
hospitable people in a modern surrounding, yet dearly cherishing their
cultural heritage.
A journey across Poland is not only an opportunity to visit historical
points of interest, but also to taste local cuisine, take advantage of
Poland's strong ties to the European tradition of contemporary culture
and art, such as painting, poster art, music and applied art such as artistic
glassware, tapestries and ceramics."

Warsaw

"The most striking thing about Warsaw is its regeneration
following the devastation of World War II. During the Nazi occupation,
about 85 percent of the city's were reduced to rubble, and 700,000 people
lost their lives.
Most of Warsaw was rebuilt within a dozen years. A visit to the Historical
Museum of the City of Warsaw on the Old Town Market Square shows a film
that depicts the city's calculated devastation.
Through the efforts of the entire nation, and the support of Polish communities
abroad, the precious castles, monuments, cathedrals and government buildings
that were -and are- the heart and soul of Warsaw were meticulously restored".

A Polish man held up a hair dressers at gunpoint demanding a free hair
cut for his girlfriend.
And he brought her back to the salon the next day demanding they do a
better job.
The man, who has not been caught, stormed into the Tschenstochau Salon
in the southern Polish town of Czestochowa and forced the owner at gunpoint
to dye and cut his girlfriend's hair for free.
But the gunman was obviously unhappy with the result as he brought his
girlfriend back the next day and again at gunpoint demanded the hairdresser
redo the job, even insisting on hair extensions to fix the length.

----

Three
Polish poachers are facing animal cruelty charges for forcing a giant
pike to drink champagne.
Two of them were spotted holding the freshly caught fish while the third
drunkenly tried to pour the contents of the bottle into its mouth.
Prosecutors claim the men deliberately poured the champagne down the fish's
throat to kill it so they could take it home and eat it.
But the men, who were not named, claimed they spotted the giant fish in
difficulty at the side of the lake and had hoped the champagne might give
it a new lease of life.
Polish media quoted one of the men as saying: "The poor thing was
on it's last legs, we wanted to warm it up so it could enjoy the New Year."

Poland, a nation that has felt
the jackboot heel of oppression, but can still enjoy carving gnomes in
caves.

to
come

A
Pole claims to have set a new pole-sitting world record after coming down
from his perch after 196 days and nights.
Daniel Baraniuk, an unemployed 27-year-old from Gdansk, collected around
£14,813 for winning the World Pole-Sitting Championship. They were
allowed to leave their 60-by-40-centimetre seats every two hours for 10
minutes.
Mr Baraniuk, whose closest rival fell off his pole in October, said he gave
up because of boredom as the number of visitors to the park dropped with
falling temperatures.
Some Christians believe St Simeon Stylites, the first and probably the most
famous of the long succession of stylitoe, or pillar-hermits, spent 36 years
sitting on a pillar, before dying in 459.